The advertising for Tropic Thunder has put its three biggest faces forward - Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. - but they're far from alone when it comes to big names in this soon-to-be classic comedy. Matthew McConaughey, Jay Baruchel, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, Brandon T. Jackson...wait, who? This is the last time anyone will ask that question. Jackson landed an amazing part in Tropic Thunder, as a rapper-turned-actor named Alpa Chino, and the young comedy star nailed it. He not only holds his own with the great Robert Downey Jr., he makes that performance, which some people have suggested deserves Oscar consideration, that much better. Like clouds forming on the horizon, you can sense that Jackson is a star on the rise from the minute you meet him. He has an energy that I've rarely seen, walking around the room, eating a bit, bouncing around some more, but always staying focused. It's as if he has too much energy to sit still. As the publicist said at the beginning when I asked Jackson where he wanted to sit, "It's a show." And it's a show that everyone is going to want tickets for very, very soon.

THE DEADBOLT: I know you get back to Detroit a lot. I read you're doing something for the schools there. Can you tell us about that?

BRANDON T. JACKSON: Kwame, Kwame. Is this taping? (laughs) [The mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick has had some notorious legal problems and controversies, including one that just landed him in jail for bond violation.]

THE DEADBOLT: You want to talk about Kwame?

JACKSON: He needs to stop buyin' Escalades and taxin' people. Maybe we can get some good schools up in there, man. What's going on, dawg? Time to get this ship running. What we're trying to do...hopefully, I get on this Coca-Cola Educational Tour with Lupe Fiasco, which would be great. We encourage kids to stay...ya know, education is so bad nowadays, especially in these urban cities. We've got to raise money for the young people to get their education. I was the class clown, so it's kind of my mission because I messed up in school. I messed around and still made a career for myself but I encourage people to get an education because there's no knowledge that's not power, man. You got to have it. Especially our people. Let's stop gettin' silly!

THE DEADBOLT: So, is it mostly a money thing?

JACKSON: (Nods.) Yeah, it's money because people pocketing the money and doin' a whole bunch of crap. That's a whole 'nother story. People been doin' some b.s. - "We don't need a gym, but I'm goin' to the Bahamas." Naw, dawg.

THE DEADBOLT: You said you were a class clown. How'd you turn that into this? Talk to that class clown out there.

JACKSON: I've been a class clown all my life. If you're gonna be a class clown, get good grades, get in video production classes, and use your gift right. If you're gonna be funny, you might as well get paid for it someday. My problem is I was popular too, along with being the class clown. I was in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. "Let's all skip!"

THE DEADBOLT: How'd you turn that into something profitable?

JACKSON: I always did drama in school. A lot of plays.

THE DEADBOLT: How'd you get this part?

JACKSON: I auditioned like fifteen times for it, man. What happened was I auditioned for the casting assistant and I didn't get the part, at first. I went from the casting assistant all the way to Ben and all the way to DreamWorks. It kept going higher and higher. It didn't stop.

THE DEADBOLT: What attracted you to the project?

JACKSON: I read the script and I knew it was genius. I didn't know Robert Downey and Jack Black were involved, but I knew it was a Ben Stiller movie. After I got the part, which I didn't get at first, I realized that it would be something big. Chaplin is gonna be playing a black man? I get on the set and I'm ready to go and I realize that everybody's really freaking good, so I better step my game up. It's a different type of comedy. This is more character-driven comedy. They develop the characters and make them funny. Black people, what we're used to as urban comedy, we're used to going after the punchline. Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, it's a different kind of style. This is great because either way it's funny. It was amazing. It was kind of like my comedy grad school.

THE DEADBOLT: How is Ben different from other directors you've worked with?

JACKSON: Ben is amazing. Ben is very intense. He knows what he wants, man. He really does. He's the type of guy that, how can I say, if you don't bring the funny, you might as well go home. Robert will take the line...if he know what you were trying to say. These guys are geniuses, man!

THE DEADBOLT: So, he let's you improv a lot.

JACKSON: Yeah! That whole movie was improv. What happened is Robert Downey Jr. stayed in character the whole time. [Downey plays an Australian method actor who dies his skin black to play an African-American soldier.] This dude would not leave character. We'd be on-set and Ben would yell cut, and he would keep going, [in a deep voice], "I'm gonna go back to the trailer and get somethin' to eat, get some barbecue chicken and Kool-Aid. Wanna come with me Brandon?" I'm looking at him keep going. One time he showed up late for set and he was like, "Well, aren't we always late?" (laughs) I'm serious. This dude is extreme, taking it to the next level. He's SO good.

THE DEADBOLT: What did you learn from Robert or Jack?

JACKSON: There are different ways to do one thing. These guys have different approaches, different ways to turn the picture.

THE DEADBOLT: Did you get to talk to Tom [Cruise, who has a cameo] or Matthew [McConaughey] at all?

JACKSON: Matthew, my God. That guy works out all day, every day. He'll be doing push-ups while he's talking to you. I taught Tom Cruise how to do all the dances. The G5 dance that he did? That's really mine.

THE DEADBOLT: Did you or Ben model this character after any rapper-turned-actor specifically?

JACKSON: Mine was Diddy meets Nelly meets Ludacris. Ben is Bruce Willis. Robert is Don Cheadle and Russell Crowe. Jack is Chris Farley and, I guess, in the beginning, Eddie Murphy.

THE DEADBOLT: What was the toughest part of this film for you?

JACKSON: Knowing how to flow with everything as it switches. Keeping the flow on-set. If we're gonna do the scene this way and then it's switched with one line. Take two, I'll get it, but then they switch it again. I have to listen and fit in.

THE DEADBOLT: Was there one day?

JACKSON: The best scene that everyone talks about with me and Robert. "Hot damn! Booty sweat!" It was one of those days where everybody is making a big deal out of it. "You're going toe-to-toe with Robert! You're going up! Are you ready?!?!" They kept making a big deal about it. "Got your scene with Robert tomorrow! Got your scene with Robert! Robert! ROBERT! ROBERT!!!" They kept saying it. Everybody was making too big of a deal out of it. And it made me kind of shut down a little bit. That was the toughest and it became one of the best scenes in the movie.

THE DEADBOLT: Stand-up or Film - You can only do one, what is it?

JACKSON: (Shakes his head.)

THE DEADBOLT: Can't even imagine?

JACKSON: It's like "Cut one leg off, which one do you want? Left one or the right one?" I'm not a fan of TV. I haven't had a good TV experience yet. But film and stand-up. (Shakes his head.)

THE DEADBOLT: Is there anyone whose career you look at and go "That's how I want mine to go"?

JACKSON: Chris Tucker. He got, what, $20 million? If he had kept going with the movies...

THE DEADBOLT: What were your favorite movies growing up?

JACKSON: I was into fantasy movies. Hook! Hook was one of my favorite movies. Remember that? I was a big fan of Friday, Money Talks. I also loved to watch comedies. [Jackson quotes Tucker from both movies and there would be no justice to the impression to even reprint them here.]

THE DEADBOLT: What would you be doing if you weren't a comedian?

JACKSON: Preaching. I would definitely be a preacher.

THE DEADBOLT: [At this point, Jackson is clearly distracted by the package of cigarettes in his hand, which even from a distance one can tell has a disturbing image on it's cover.]

JACKSON: "Did you know tobacco can cause the arteries in your brain to clog?" And it shows it! What the hell?!?!

THE DEADBOLT: What are you smoking?

JACKSON: Oh man, that's my last pack.

THE DEADBOLT: Where'd you buy those?

JACKSON: Oh man. I'm sorry, that really messed my head up. Canada. I'm done after this package. After this pack, I'm done.

THE DEADBOLT: Have you seen the movie with an audience? Is there anything people laugh at that you didn't expect or vice versa?

JACKSON: I didn't know people were gonna laugh at the "Chineses" line. I hated that line. I didn't think that was funny.

THE DEADBOLT: What's next?

JACKSON: I got some offers. I got offered something yesterday. I'm still trying to figure out what to do after this. I'm kind of waiting for the response to see what this does.

Tropic Thunder opens tomorrow, August 13th.